Tensions are simmering over proposed seaweed farms in Cornwall. Here’s why

Seaweed farms promise rural investment. But are the benefits overstated?

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Published: Tuesday, 12 November 2024 at 10:55 AM

Seaweed has the potential to be one of the most environmentally-friendly products of the future – grown with no impact on nature with applications in fertilisers, pharmaceuticals, bioplastics and animal feed, as well as storing carbon to mitigate against climate change. 

And the promise of farming seaweed is gathering pace, promising jobs, investment and sustainable business opportunities. So why are people in Cornwall so upset by a number of proposals for farms off the coast of south-west Britain? 

Barnaby Kay, spokesperson for the Save Port Quin group that’s opposing a seaweed farm in the bay, says the problems start with a poor consultation process, with residents left in the dark because of a lack of transparency. He describes the licensing authority, the Marine Management Organisation (MMO), as “under-resourced, badly trained and badly governed.”

Save Port Quin isn’t opposed in principle to the concept of seaweed farming, Kay insists, but says more thought needs to be given to its impact on natural beauty.

The area around Port Quin is within the Cornwall National Landscape (previously known as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty), but the MMO has not – so far at least – taken this into account, Kay says.

Cornwall National Landscape’s planning officer Jim Wood is also concerned about the visual impact of the farm in Port Quin Bay. The “proliferation of [1,728] buoys and illuminated navigation marks, spread across an area of 50.4ha [hectares] of Port Quin Bay… will give rise to a very marked change to the existing, open, wild undeveloped coastal landscape and seascape,” Wood told the MMO in a letter in January of this year. “We object to this proposed seaweed farm on the basis of the unacceptable harmful effects.”

The company behind the Port Quin farm, Biome Algae, did not respond to requests for an interview. In September of this year, it had to resubmit its seaweed farm proposals that the MMO is now considering. In its latest document, Biome says the seaweed industry is starting to thrive in the UK. “There is clear scientific evidence that demonstrates seaweed farming enhances biodiversity, restores marine habitats and provides ecosystem services such as improving water quality,” it claims. 

Just along the coast from Port Quin Bay, the residents of Port Isaac are also fighting plans for a 100-hectare kelp farm that has been approved by the MMO. Penmayn, the company behind the proposal, says it is looking at how high value chemicals and biostimulants in sugar kelp could be used for the nutraceutical market where it is used in bone and joint, gut and immune support health products. 

But the Save Port Isaac Bay group claims Penmayn hasn’t taken sufficient account of the exposed nature of the site. An expert in coastal morphodynamics, Dr Tony Butt, is quoted on its website, saying “on a wide-open coastline with such high energy levels, the structure will have a high probability of failing… and when it fails, it will pollute the nearshore and coastline.”

In response, Penmayn said while they respected Dr Butt for his view, “as far as we are aware, he hasn’t been involved with our engineer team who have installed farms in Greenland, Iceland and Norway, as well as one in the UK.”

Asked why there was such vocal opposition to the farm, the company said the licensing process had taken 18 months and had involved “planning notices, newspaper inches, parish newsletters, Facebook posts, countless Zoom calls and update briefings.”

It’s not clear how many seaweed farms there are in the UK. A blog written for the Government’s Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS) in 2022 said there had been a “new wave of interest” in the sector and the number of active farms had risen from one in 2016 to 10. 

The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) has said there are opportunities to develop seaweed farming in the UK, but that the possible negative impacts included equipment loss, potential shading of vulnerable marine species such as seagrass, nutrient depletion and the entanglement of marine mammals in mooring lines and other gear.

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